Identity
by ConanKudo
Summary: Conan¡'s 8th birthday started it all. A complicated case made Heiji fly to Tokyo for Conan¡'s help. The case seems easy, but what exactly is the secret laying hidden? It¡'s all about Conan¡'s identity, and all of their destiny¡­ *Chapter 3 is up!
1. The Birthday Present

Identity  
  
Chapter 1 - The Birthday Present  
  
  
By: ConanKudo  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Konnichiwa! This is actually my second DCFF, not as good as all the others that you've read (probably), but it's a lot better than my first fanfic. This story is based on the five movies. But believe me, it is different. I apologize for all the grammar, spelling, and any other errors I made in this story, I really don't have that much time to revise my story and stuff. Well, I hope you enjoy! Send all your comments/questions to detective_kudo@hotmail.com Thanks! --- ConanKudo  
  
*Parenthese = thoughts  
  
  
DISCLAIMER! I did not creat or own Detective Conan, all rights belongs to Gosho Aoyama, the creater of Detective Conan!!!  
  
  
  
  
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As Conan stepped into the classroom, he heard "Happy birthday Edogawa Conan!..." "Eh?" Before he could figure out what's happening in the classroom, all of his classmates surrounded him.   
  
"Happy birthday Conan!" Ayumi said, as if she was representing the whole class. Then, a bunch of beautiful flowers, childish toys and school supplies appeared in front of his face.   
  
"Here's some presents we bought for you, hope you'll like it!" Conan looked at all the presents that his classmates were holding again.   
  
"Cool! Arigato, but before I accept them, can one of you tell me how you know it's my birthday?" He suddenly remembered that neither him nor the teacher had ever told the class that his birthday was today. "Oh, Ai told us." They all pointed at Haibara Ai, who was sitting in her chair, reading her favorite magazine. "Oh..." (Dr. Agasa probably told her that...)   
  
"So Conan, are you going to let us holding the presents in our hand for the rest of the day?" Genta start to get a little anxious and annoy for no response from Conan about the presents.   
  
"Hun? Oh, about the presents..." (I guess if i don't accept those, they're probably not going to let me go that easy...)   
"Um... thanks everybody, I guess I'll have put it there by the window for now, or else I won't be able to use my desk for the whole day. And thanks everyone!"   
  
The crowd slowly scattered as they all walked toward the wall by the window to put dowm the presents for Conan.   
  
  
  
When he returned to his own desk, he found a little box, with a little note on top of it. After unpacked his backpack and prepared for the first period class, he started to unfold the note, there he read:   
  
"Happy birthday Kudo Shinichi, you are now 18 years old, or 8. Don't get too excitied, because the older you get the dangerous situation you will get into. Beware of Ran. Anyways, happy birthday, in the box is the present you always wanted. Make good use of it, don't waste it like the last time you did. DO NOT OPEN THAT BOX UNLESS THERE'S AN EMERGENCY!"  
  
And on the bottom of the paper was a signature of the sender, "Haibara Ai" conan then realized that Ai was staring at him while he was reading the note.   
  
"Arigato!" He whispered to Ai.   
  
  
----- In the hall way at school -----  
  
  
The pile of papers in their fell as the two teachers bumped into each other. The papers mixed as they fell down to the floor.   
"Oh, I'm so sorry, are you alright?" One teacher asked.   
  
"I'm fine. you are the teacher from sixth grade right?"   
  
"Yeah, this is my first year here, sorry about that, I'm still a little confused about the floors and stuff. As you can see, I have a bad sense of directions."   
  
"Don't worry, you'll get use to it." She start to picking up the papers that fell down. But unfortunatly, they didn't notice that it was already mixed. After picking up all the papers from the floor, they brushed off all the dusts on their cloth.   
"Well, we better get going, the class's going to start in less then five minutes."   
  
"Oh my, you're right, well, I'll see you around!" Then, they start to walk toward their classroom, one of them stepped in B-1, Conan's classroom.  
  
  
----- Everyond in the classroom were in a rowdy -----  
  
  
"Ahem..." The teacher knocked on the door. Everybody went silent and ran back to their seats.   
  
"Ohayo! We're going to have the final exam today to see what you've learned so far and how well you learned. This includes Language Art, Essay, Mathmatic, Science and Social Science. This test will count as your 80 percent grade, so make sure you check your answers after you finish them. There is a time limit. Does anybody not understand what we're doing?" She scanned around the classroom to see if there's any hands up.   
  
"WE UNDERSTAND!" The class cried out.   
  
"Very well, then let's begin." She hand the pile of papers to a student in front of her, and asked her to pass it out to everybody in the class.   
  
"You may start on the test as soon as you get it. Remember to put your name on top of the paper!"   
  
Conan rest his head in his right hand, waiting fot the test to pass down to him. Unlike all the other students in the class (except for Ai), he never complained about the homework he gets or the test that they took. He aced them all! (CK: but think about it, how hard could it be for a high school genius to be a first grade genius?)   
  
For the first time ever, Conan's brain did not get bored when he saw the test. It was not THE test. He can tell, because the teacher had never taught them algebras, and the first graders can never understand algebras. He looked at Ai, obviously, she got the same test he got by coincedence.   
  
Before they can say a word about it, the teacher's voice interrupted the silence. "Does everybody here have a test? Raise your hand if you don't have one! Anyone?"   
  
Ai and Conan looked at each other for a moment, and decide not to return the paper, since the teacher only asked if they have a test, and it's much better than doing 2+4 or 10-7, or filling in the boubles and stuff.   
  
Soon, the whole class went back into silence, all of them were busy with the test.   
  
And as usual, Conan and Ai were the first one to finsh, they went up to the teacher's desk and hand in their test, like the teacher told them to. And returned to their seat without a word. The teacher looked at their test, and looked at them, Ai was reading the magazine again, and Conan was reading Sherlock Holmes's novel.   
  
Then, she left the classroom. About 15 minutes later, she returned with another teacher, who was also the one that she had bumped into. Their jaws dropped open at once after they saw Conan and Ai's test.   
  
"Edogawa Conan and Haibara Ai, may I see you two up here please." Their teacher called them up. With the expression on her face, Conan and Ai knew that they were in a deep trouble. Preparing for what they should say when the teacher ask them questions, they quietly walked up to the teacher's desk, the whole class glanced at them. The teacher layed the paper in front of them as they stopped by the desk.   
  
"Edogawa, Haibara, here's a math problem for you. Square X plus square y minus 4x plus 2y plus c equals 0, and x is across point of A and B. The center point of the circle is o, then AOB=120 degrees. In this case, c equals what?"   
  
"C equals 1" They answered together without thinking.   
  
"When and who wrote 'The Tale Of Genji'?"   
  
"Murasaki Shikibu wrote it in 1000 A.D.."   
  
"Translate 'Issho-ni ie o demashita ga, tochu de yoji o omoidashimashita' into english"   
  
And again, without a hesitate, they answered at once. "We left home together, but half way there I noticed I forgot something."   
  
"{start talking in English}Do you understand english?"   
  
"yes."   
  
"What is better tasting? Vodka or Sherry?"   
  
"I don't know, children under 21 years old are not allowed to drink wines.{end English speaking}" Conan answered, but it was a lie, since he did drunk it last time as an experiment for the antidote.  
  
  
  
  
The two teachers looked at each other, couldn't find a word to say. And the students, who were watching those two genius answering every question that they don't even know what it means, starred at the teacher and Conan, Ai. Wondering what will happen next.   
  
"Oh my goodness! As you can see, none of us had ever taught you guys that, and I garantee that none of the students in this classroom except for you two understands English that well. And, take a look at your test, you both got the sixth grader's test, but you still got 100 percent correct, and your writing skill are higher then sixth grader's. I can't blame you for cheating because Conan got test form A and Ai you got test form B. Plus, the questions we just asked you are for high schoolers, but you got them all right without thinking. How can you explain this?" She pointed at the test, which already has an "A" and a "100%" on top of that paper.   
  
"Well....um....." Both of them looked down at their toes, but can't find any right words to respond their teacher.   
  
"Well, I guess we are just like the superman in the cartoon. We have superbrain!" Conan answered, pretending to be an innocent little child. Then, he made the pose which the superman in the cartoon show made.   
  
"Eh?" Ai gave Conan a hard look, as if she wasn't satisified with the lie he came up with. But soon, she start to act with Conan.   
  
"Whatever, I'll have to call your parents right now. And, would you please go to the office for a minute? I think you two need to take a test. I'll be in the office with you in a minute." And then, she stood up, facing the whole class, who were facing her as well.   
  
"Don't you guys think you should be working on your test? you only have about 30 minute left to finish your test!"   
  
"AHHHH!!!" The whole class yelled when they heard the last part of their teacher's sentence. In about fifteen second, the whole class went back to silent again.  
  
  
  
Out there in the corridor of the school, Ai asked Conan, "I guess we made the wrong decision of taking that test and aced it, hun?"   
  
"You are telling me that? I'm in a deeper trouble then you are in, if Ran figures out this, then I'm dead!" Already regreting about the test.   
  
"Well, I wish you good luck, and remember, you still have the present I gave you. Use it wisely."   
  
"Oh yeah, that just reminds me, what is in that box?"   
  
"I already told you, it should be the best present you ever got after your shrunk."   
  
"...... It can't be... is it?" A surprise thought dash accrosed his mind. Ai didn't say anything, a slight nod was all she need to do.   
  
"Domo arigato!" Conan start to get excite, it was the best present after all.   
As they arrived the office. The door was wide open, all the school staffs were sitting in chairs, waiting for their arrival...  
  
  
------------- Two hours later ---------------  
  
  
The test result finally came out. Conan got 99.8% and Ai got 100%. At the same moment, Ran and Dr. Agasa arrived, one of the teacher took them to one side of the room and told them something.   
  
During the conversation, both of the parents' jaws dropped open, just like Conan's teacher. Conan gulped hard, he can almost hear his own heart beat, getting faster every second. But next to Conan, Ai seemed to be relaxed, since she doesn't have to worry about having her real identity revealed by someone.   
  
"Edogawa Conan, Haibara Ai, would you please come over here." The principal called them.   
  
As they walked toward the table, Ai whispered to Conan, "pst, Kudo, no matter what happens, I'll try to protect your identity, after all, the whole thing was my fault."   
  
"Arigato." He whispered back.  
  
  
After they were all seated, the principal started the conversation. "Let's see. Ah of course, we shall start with the test. Ms. Mouri, Dr. Agasa, as you can see, these two kids are absolutly geniuses. The test that they just took are actually the final exam test for high schoolers. And they both aced them, which means they have already completed their 12 years education. But it's still unbelievable how a first grader can do that! And if you would look at their essay, there's hardly any mistake at all, and if it was for the university essay test, I believe that they could have gotten an A too. It's definetly can't be done by some sort of practice. What I'm trying to say is, your child is so talented, I don't think that it's necessary for them to come to elementary school at all. They are both ready for university, I can recommend them to a university, if you want me to. This is the highest record in the whole Nippon!"   
  
Ran starred at Conan for a moment with suspecious. "Conan? university?" (He's just like shinichi, only Shinichi could have aced that test... I remember all the time I tried to force him into telling me his true identity, he came up with a question that I can't answer. That kind of deduction skill, and everytime Conan disappears is the only time Shinichi shows up... is this... all just a coincidence?)   
  
She faced the principal, and said, "I think I would like to talk to Conan first, is it ok if we gave you our response tomorrow?"   
  
Dr. Agasa hurried and followed, "Oh yes, we would like to talk it over too." The principal nodded for agreement, it was an important decision, after all.   
  
"Certainly! come here tomorrow and tell me your answer, I look forward to our next meeting!"   
  
A nice handshake was the last thing they did. Then, they left the school together.   
  
  
  
On Conan and Ran's way back to Mouri's Detective Agency, nobody made a sound, Ran was still surprised by that test score, even herself couldn't have gotten that high score, but then, how could Conan? he's only a seven years old boy, or... is he?   
  
She looked down at Conan, but couldn't see his face since he was facing down too, all she can see was conan's left hand was holding up his chin, two fingers making the check symbol right accross his cheek. Then, Ran noticed that Conan's hand was all wet, (that... that's just like Shinichi when he's thinking or working on a case. but... this isn't a magical world where you can shrunk people that easily. What's going on?...)   
  
Her wild imagination began to fill in her brain, "Eh!" she punched herself, (Ha, what am I thinking? That can't happen! Eh, if I don't quit imagining, I'll probably crush into a truck on the road or something... Haha)   
  
"Ran, Watch out!" Conan jumped onto her and pushed her away from the road.   
  
"Ah!!!! Conan?" Before she know it, they were laying on the ground, next to the sidewalk.   
  
"Ran nee chan, you almost walked into that huge truck there! What were you thinking? You can't hurt yourself like that!" Brushing off the dust on his shirt, and helped Ran stand up.   
  
"Sorry, Conankun, I was thinking... Thanks for saving me... OW!" Ran suddenly collapsed.   
  
"Ran...nee chan? Daijobu?" Conan bend down, tried to pull her up again, but she was way to heavy for him to pull up.   
  
Then, he realized that Ran was holding her left leg tightly in her hands, "My leg... they... I think the bones are...broken" She said a painful tune. And yet, her face was sweating, she shut her mouth tight, biting her lips, afrid that if she let go of her lip, she would scream loudly in pain.   
  
"What? But how? Uh... here, I must help you walk to the chair over there, it's too dangerous for you to just sit in the middle of the street. Here, you can lean on me, I'll take you there. Then I will call for help." He used all of his strength to help Ran stand up, but at this moment, Ran was so powerless, the most she can do was not to cry out. They slowly walked to the bench on the sidewalk.   
  
Only ten step seemed so long at that time. With each step they took, Conan can almost feel Ran's pain. As soon as they reached the bench, Ran was already half fainted, her paled face and heavy breath made Conan's mind messed up again.   
"Hang on Ran-nee-chan! I'll be right back." He ran to the telephone booth, which was about fifty feet away from the bench.   
And there, he called the ambulance and Ai.   
  
Five minutes later, the ambulance arrived, but at the same time, Ran fainted. The doctors helped Ran into the ambulance, and Conan followed.   
  
The next thing they knew was riding in the ambulance with the speed of 70 miles per hour, and headed straight to the Beika Hospital. With the method of the Ambulance's alarm sound, and the doctor's questions. All Conan could think of was Ran's safety.  
  
  
------------ One and half hours later... -------------  
  
  
"Ding" The light of the operation room went off at last. A doctor came out of the room, and walked toward Conan.   
  
"Is Ran-nee-chan ok?"  
  
"Don't worry about her, she's fine. Her bones aren't broken, there are many reasons that caused her collapse, damaging her leg is part of it, and the next important part is because of her tireness. Her body is not strong enough. She needs more rest, or else she'll just grow weaker everyday. By then, you can never tell what can happen. But don't you worry, she's going to be just fine. All she needs is some rest and some medicine, I think she should be okay in about two weeks or so, but these days she will be in a painful condition."   
  
"So, can I see her right now?"   
  
"Of couse you can, she'll be in room 201 in about fifteen minutes, you can wait there."   
  
"Domo arigato gozaimasu!" He finally signed in relief.   
  
"Do-itashimashite." Then, the doctor walked away.   
  
Since there's still a fifteen minutes waiting, Conan ran down to a flower shop and bought some Ran's favorite flowers, and attached a little get well note alone with it, on that note, he wrote:   
  
"Ran, I heard that your leg is injuried. This flower is for you, since I can't wait 'till you wake up, you have to be more careful and take better care of yourself! Get well soon! Shinichi."   
  
As soon as he came back to Beika Hospital, Ran was already sleeping in room 201, and Chlorofoam was still working in her body.   
  
Conan made his way to the chair next to Ran's bed, and put the flower on the table. Then, he gently put Ran's hand into the comfort, so her hands won't be freezing cold when she wakes up.   
  
(Ran, I know you've been staying up late worrying about me. I wanted to do something, but I can't... The me in front of your eyes everyday is powerless, those cruel organization's testing drug shrunk me. I tried to tell you the truth before, but I just couldn't open my mouth and say it out loud, because if I do, then you will get into a grave danger with me, and I don't want you go suffer with me, I don't want to embroil you or your family. I can't dream of seeing you getting hurt. Please understand the situation I'm in, I promise I'll tell you EVERYTHING as soon as the whole thing is over.)  
  
Conan slowly brushed away the hairs on Ran's face.   
  
(I promise, one day, I'll tell you about my true identity as my true self, and I'll tell you how I really feel about you. I promise.)   
  
Ran's hand moved a little as her watery eyes smoothly opened in dizziness. The first thing came to her sight was Conan's face. His eyes behind the huge glasses was exactly like Shinichi's.   
  
"Oh Conankun, I..."   
  
"You want to sit up? Here, let me help." He released Ran's warm hand, and helped Ran sit up. When she was sitting in her bed with two pillows behind her, she noticed the flower on the table next to her.   
Before she can open her mouth to ask about it, Conan read her mind. "This flowers are from Shinichi-nii-chan he said he couldn't stay here with you until you wake up because he still have lots of mystery case waiting for him to solve. And for the note, he said it will explain everything to you."   
  
"Shinichi was here? he bought that beautiful flower for me?"   
  
"Yep! Isn't he the best?" Ran didn't respond, she blushed instead, and then a little slight nod.   
  
  
Conan's acting was getting better everyday, which had almost covered up his always-only-one-truth-habit.   
A detective who always wants nothing but the truth have to fool other people like that.   
He's already sick of being in Conan's body, sick of being so little, sick of being so close to someone who he care the most, but couldn't tell her about how he really felt about her.   
  
For how many times he sneaked into Ran's room in the night, and saw her sitting by the window, looking at the bright moon, and sometimes tears dropping down to the floor. But the best thing he can do to comfort her was to make another lie.  
  
Sometimes Conan think for himself that even death could be better then stuck inside that small body. If it wasn't because of Ran, he would probably be in the heaven right now.   
  
  
"Humph, case..." Ran refold the note when she finished reading it.   
  
"Um...uh...Are you mad at Shinichi-nii-san Ran-nee-chan?"   
  
"Mad? Why would I be mad? I already got used to his 'I still have a case to solve' excuse."   
  
"Then why are you humphing?" Conan said, still wouldn't drop the subject.   
  
"I'm just... disappointed that I can't see Shinichi in real person. And... His long disappearance's only excuse is 'I have some other case to solve'. Even dummies would know that it's only a fake, useless excuse! Or...... Does it mean Shinichi doesn't care about me anymore, he hate me so he doesn't want to come back?" Her eyes start to get unclear as her nose began to feel sore.   
  
"Of course he cares about you! It's just that...that...... he can't see you. And the flower proofed that he cares about you, why would someone who doesn't care about someone and still gave that person presents?" He looked at his toes, afrid to see Ran's face at that moment.   
  
"I..." without letting Ran finish, Conan continued, "Do you remember? That time Shinichi-nii-chan said he have something important to tell you at the Beika Hotel sightseeing resturant? What can be important enough for him to invite you to that high quality, expensive resturant? Think about it, what can be that important?" He finally looked up at Ran, two lines of tears were already on her cheek. He gently wiped it away with his small fingers.   
  
(What can be that important? What can be that important?!!!) The answer was obvious, "......I remember, and I understand..."   
"Never mind Shinichi, Conankun, you still owe me an explaination for the test, remember?"   
  
"E? Well, I... um.... it was because of...." Conan suddenly became so anxious, that he can't even sit still.   
  
  
By coincidence, a doctor knocked on the door.   
  
"Phew..." Conan signed, (Thank goodness the doctor is here), "come in!" Ran said.   
  
A mid-aged man walked toward Ran's bed, in his left hand was a pile of papers which was already stapled together into one big pile. And on top of the paper, Ran's name was written in a black pen.   
  
"Are you feeling better miss Mouri?"   
  
"Yes, I've been better." She cleaned her face as fast as she can.   
  
"That's good, I came here to tell you that it's not necessary for you to stay in the hospital at all! You can go back home and rest. Just make sure you take your medicine on time, have enough rest. But of course, you may stay here if you want to. What do you wish to do?" He looked through Ran's operation report again.   
  
"Oh, I think I'll go home." Conan smiled too, (that's great! Ran's condition is better than I thought!)   
  
"That's what I thought. Should I call your parents to pick you up?"   
  
"Oh no, it's alright, I can go home with Conan."   
  
"Okay. you may go at anytime you wish. I'm not going to disturb you now, just remember to stop by my office to pick up the medicine. I'll be there." He closed the door behind him.   
  
  
"Well, I guess it's time to go home Conan-kun." She tried to stand up, but then sit back down again.   
  
"You can't stand up yet Ran-nee-chan! here, sit in the wheelchair, and I'll push you. You have to take care of yourself!" Conan pushed the wheelchair next to Ran's bed, so it would be easier for Ran to get in.   
  
"Conankun, you... You look awfully like Shinichi, and why do you always start to act weird and nervous everytime i talk about Shinichi?" Ran asked as Conan helped her stand up in one foot and sit down in the wheelchair.   
  
"Of course I look like him, I am his distant relative! Here, make yourself comfortable, and I'll pack up things for ya."   
  
He fold Ran's cloth and put it into a bag, "Well, anything else I need to pack?"   
  
"Nothing else. That's it. Here, have a cup of water before we leave, you are already out of breath." Ran hand over a cup of water to Conan, who was still trying to catch his breath after the fast packing.   
  
He doesn't really do that sort of things, when he's living by himself, Kudo usually just throw everything in one corner. And everytime he wants to wear something, he had to search for half an hour and make a huge mess in his room.   
  
But after he moved to Ran's house, Ran forced him to fold his cloth nicely before he goes to sleep, and always tidy up after himeself. It seems like the training was working.   
  
After Conan finished the last drop of water in the cup, he hand the bag to Ran, so Ran can hold it. And he pushed the wheelchair out the door, and made their way to the doctor's office.   
  
  
  
On their way back home, Conan carefully pushed Ran, afrid that the bumpy road would hurt Ran's leg. For many times Ran asked Conan about the test, but everytime Conan came up with a new excuse, or meet someone they knew by coincidence.   
Climbing the stair in the Mouri's Detective Agency was the hardest, since little Conan have to hold up Ran and keep his own balance.   
  
After thirty minutes of hard trying, they finally made it. but stupid them suddenly remembered that they could've just called Ran's dad for help! They faced each other, let out a little weak laugh.   
  
Then, they heard someone yelling inside the room, "I already told you, I'm not here for your daughter! I'm here for a case! A CASE!" that voice was familier to all of them, conan pushed open the door, "Heiji-nii-chan?"  
  
  
- TO BE CONTINUED  
  
  
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CK: Like it? I know, I know, I should've concentrate on some case instead of all those non-sense? well...wait until chapter two, by then, don't hate me because I didn't put too much relationships in it! :) 


	2. Challenge

() ^_^ Konnichiwa ^_^ ()  
  
A/N: Thank you soooo much for reviews! Remember in the last chapter I said there would be no relationships in this chapter?   
Well, things sort of went out of my plan, so...you know... And I'm not a very good detective. That's why in this chapter, you   
will find the clue to solve this case, pleaz don't complain to me about making this case that easy, I'm still in middle school...   
Anyways, send all of your comments to fanfic_conankudo@yahoo.com I accept any mail, as long as they don't contain virus of   
course! ;)  
  
P.S.NOTE: Perfect English is not included! Any mistakes in this fanfiction are completely my own fault. Please R&R!   
Japanese/Story/Chinese name flip is enclosed at the end of this chapter.  
  
Before you sue me, here is the DISCLAIMER! I DO NOT OWN Detective Conan! I DO NOT CLAIM COPYRIGHT TO THE CHARACTER, STORY,   
DETECTIVE CONAN...(*but I sure wish I did...LOL;)) BUT! I do claim copyright to the plot & Ruki Mitsukata!  
  
  
  
  
And here it is, the second chapter you've been waiting for.  
  
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IDENTITY  
Chapter 2 - Chiisana tentei Kogoro!? Ran's first date!  
By: ConanKudo (anime_cc)  
Rate: G - General/Mystery/Romance  
  
  
When Conan pushed to open the door, a familiar shadow of a young man appeared in the room. "Hehe, stop acting already. I know you are here for my daughter Ran. What case? You're here for my daughter aren't you? Look, you are flushing!" Kogoro's face was all red after his usual drank, and started to tease Heiji.   
  
"He is here for a case and I can proof it!" Kazuha managed to yell with them.   
  
"DAD!" Ran angrily knocked on the door, "WHAT IN WORLD IS GOING ON IN HERE!?" Fire flames burned around her as her angers suddenly grew wild. She would've used her karate on the door or an object in the room, but her legs won't let her.  
  
The three people whirled their heads to face Ran, feeling the hot air coming from her. "Ran! What happened?!" Kogoro dropped his beer on the table and ran to her when he saw her in the hospital wheelchair. He shook Ran's body hard.  
  
"This? Oh it's nothing, doctor said will would recover in about two weeks or so. It was just a little accident." She forced out a feigned smile, but inside, the pain she's experiencing was increasing.   
  
Her father put his eyebrows together and asked with disbelieve, "Nothing? You call that nothing?"  
  
"DAD! I'm old enough to take care of myself! And this little wound is not going to hurt me a bit! Besides, you should concentrate on the case, not my tiny problem!" She pointed at Heiji and Kazuha, greet to them and bowed slightly, "Sorry about my dad's impoliteness. Please go on with the case."   
  
Heiji looked at Conan first, he had never remembered what Kudo had told him about not calling him Kudo in front of everybody. As soon as the word escaped out of his mouth, suspicious and doubts from Ran became unexplainable. Nervous Conan dashed to Hattori and covered his big mouth with his little, pudgy, white hand, playing his usual role as an innocent eight years old little boy.   
  
Ran gazed into his blue, nervous, frightened and requesting eyes. It always showed her if he's telling the truth or not before, but now, all she can see was Shinichi looking at her with plead. As if he was begging her not to reveal his identity in front of all those people. (Shinichi, I know it's you, but why won't you tell me the truth? Why?) Usually she would question Conan about it, but months and months of experience had taught her that the only answer she'll get from Conan is some useless excuse or lies.  
  
(No, don't. I beg you, Ran...Don't! I will tell you everything later, but now at this moment. Please Ran...) Conan blinked and prayed.   
  
"And...Here is the case..." Heiji's voice trailed off, still wondering if he should disturb the silence.  
  
As soon as Conan heard the word "case", curiously, he asked, "Where? What is it about?" He asked this not just because then he'll know about the case, it'll also distracted Ran from the suspicious. But his word also earned him a bun on his head from Kogoro. "Shut up! I'm the detective!"  
  
Holding a letter in his hand, "I received this letter yesterday, and it's a really weird letter. The sender didn't sign or write his or her address. And the content, it almost makes no sense at all! But if you read it carefully, I think it's disclosing something."   
  
Kazuha, who had been totally forgotten at the moment stood up and stopped by Heiji, whispered with anger, "HEIJI! DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME! I'M ALIVE TOO YA KNOW!" Maybe, maybe her voice was a little louder then she expect it would be, everyone heard what she said.   
  
"Oh! Ran-neechan, why don't you take Kazuha-neechan to some stores to do some shopping while we're discussing this case?" (**CK:Ah sorry, I forgot Ran's leg was injured! LOL**) Conan said. The next thing he know was another fist landed on top of his head. "Ouch!" Conan rubbed his head and complained.  
  
Kogoro cleared his throat after a few cough, and said with a pose, "Ran, you take Kazuha and Conan to the coffee shop downstair. We two will discuss the case. Two famous detectives can solve this case easily! A..Hahahaha!" His stupid laughs once again gave away his true intelligence, sweat drops appeared on Ran and Conan's face with embarrass.   
  
"Please allow Conan to stay, he's really helpful." Heiji tabbed Conan on the shoulder, both of them smiling to Kogoro. Kogoro looked at them both with discontentment, but he agreed anyways. "Fine...but you're not allowed to disturb us, clear?" Conan nodded.  
  
When Heiji shared the letter with Kogoro, who scratched his head after reading it, one eye closed and the other open, and his eyebrows put together, he asked, "I don't see what's so weird about this paper. It's just your fan writing you an admire letter, and a few questions." He never figured out anything, even if Conan or Heiji told him some important clues. Help him became famous and let him get all the credit for solving over 70 cases was part of hate being in his childhood form again. Especially when he's too stupid to understand the clue he gave him.  
  
"Let me see! Let me see!" Conan starts to jump around Heiji and Kogoro. Being short was the other thing he hates after his shrunk, he was unable to do lots of things. Like he had to get something to stand on to get the phone, stand on a chair to get his soccer ball off the shelve, he even had to stand on Genta's shoulder to reach his shoe locker...  
  
Heiji tried to hand it over to him, but Kogoro grabbed it before the paper reached Conan's hand. He still had no idea that Heiji was trying to give that clue to the great detective of Nippon. In his opinion, Conan is just a little annoy kid whose parents are totally careless.   
  
As Conan kept jumping around anxiously, Ran and Kazuha had arrived at the front door. "Um...Kazuha-chan, where do you want to go? How about we go shopping for clothes? I heard that there is a 40% off in a store!" That suggestion was a great idea to Kazuha, but she refused for some reason. "No, I don't think so. I would rather stay here with Heiji, besides, you can't shop, look at your legs!" She moved her sight from Ran's eye to the door, and pushed Ran back into the house.  
  
When they arrived in the house, Conan wasn't leaping around anymore. With a large box under his feet, he was starring at that paper as if a wild lion finally found its prey. His hands were busy writing and taking notes from the letter as his eyes caught in the mysterious paper. To make everything easier for himself, one of his arm rest itself on Heiji's back and the other on Kogoro's.   
  
  
  
  
Dear Hattori-san:   
  
How are you? My name is Ruki Mitsukata and I'm a first grader from an elementary   
school. I really really admire your deduction skill. Every time you solve a case, I find   
that case extremely hard and your amazing deduction and investigation on the newspaper.   
Especially last week, you solved the case in the CEO's office, even my parents couldn't   
solve it! First I thought it was the Boss, but then I thought it was the CEO's assistant.  
One of my friend actually thought the crime was the mailman! ...{more contents}   
Become a wonderful detective like you is my dream!   
  
Maybe you won't even bother, but I have some riddle and questions for you. I'm sure   
you can solve it easily.   
  
Where is the hottest place in Tokyo? Where is the best shield in that place? Does   
that riku exist, or will it? Does a detective really care about a case more than anything   
else?   
  
Please, please help me solve those riddles and questions.   
  
  
~*~  
!PLEASE READ!  
~*~  
{A/N: Ah, sorry to interrupt at this moment, but I an important announcement to make. This letter is framed, and I typed the whole thing in Microsoft Notepad system, therefore, I have no idea if it's going to work on the websites. (They are lines and slashes) Just to let you know, that if they are messed up or are in the middle of the content, just ignore it, it is not a secret code. I will check it online, if it's really messed up, I'll fix it and post a new one, but that will take time. Please be patient. Thank you for your precious time, please go on...}  
UPDATE: IT'S FIXED NOW.  
~*~  
!THANK YOU!  
~*~  
  
  
(What's with those riddles? And why would someone ask a detective those questions and want them to reply without a return address or contact information? Hmm... looks like an interesting case...) Conan grinned to himself. The harder the case seems, the more curious he gets. Right now, he had almost control of himself. Getting a case, a hard case and solve it was what his life was meant to be.   
  
Eagerly, he read the last part of the letter.  
  
  
  
...As you can see, I'm a great fan of you, just like my friends and classmates,   
we're crazy about you. And guess what? I have the whole collection of newspaper about you  
and the cases you solved! One day, hopefully we can meet, by then, maybe you can tell me   
more about you and all the interesting cases you solved!? I'm really looking forward to   
that day!   
  
  
Sincerely,  
  
P.S. SOS   
  
  
  
  
(The last "SOS" was written in a messy handwriting, it doesn't look like the same person who wrote the letter at all. Is it just a little joke, or is the crime trying to force someone to write this letter, and the kidnapped person wrote the "SOS" in a hurry while the crime wasn't paying attention to him or her? If that's true, then we'd better hurry, or else that person's life will be...) for some reason, Heiji and Conan was thinking and concerning about the same thing. (And if that's a crime's trap, then what does this letter mean? It can't be a fan letter, nobody will ever ask those foolish questions...)  
  
"Sodattanda!" Kogoro finally broke the silence. His voice spread throughout the house, everyone stared at him.   
  
"Y..You mean you already know...I mean you already solved this case?" Heiji asked with suspicious and doubt, it was unbelievable. How can THAT detective solve this case before the great two?  
  
"Really? You solved it? That's great dad!" Ran said full of excitements. Then she tried to run to Kogoro, but fell down to the floor instead.   
  
When Kogoro saw his own daughter fell, he dashed towards her, which caused Conan's collapse to the floor at the same time. Conan had put half of his balance on Kogoro, and now he's gone, his little body fell with his scream "Waaaaaa.........Ouch! *thud*"   
  
"Eh...You're alright right?" Heiji said as he helped Conan onto his feet.   
  
"Yeah...I'm okay." He picked up his notebook and pen. "Is Ran-neechan alright? It looks like she's hurt really badly." He asked Kogoro when he stopped by Ran after cleaning himself from the dusts.   
  
Kogoro stopped checking Ran's leg to see if she needs to go to the hospital when he heard Conan's word and suddenly noticed something strange, "Hey...wait a minute..." He studied Conan once more.   
  
"Conan, you're not really seven years old are you? Who are you? And why do you care about Ran that much? Answer me!" Conan was shocked when he heard Kogoro's question, his wide eyes stared into Kogoro's deep sight. He was talking about something seriously, he can tell. (But since when did he become that smart? Smart enough to get suspicious about my true identity? Great...how am I going to answer him?)  
  
Conan backed up and lay against the wall as Kogoro kept on walking towards him. The cold sweats on Conan's face were getting more and more. Heiji tried to say something to protect Conan, but his lips wouldn't move for some reason.  
  
"Uh...I..." Before his explanation, Kogoro continues, "Your school teacher and principals called me this afternoon, they told me about your test score. Gave me an explanation! A good explanation!" He was now treating Conan as if he had done something terribly wrong. "I know your face, we've met before haven't we?" Said Kogoro, who tried to take off Conan's protective glasses, but he dodged aside just in time.   
  
"Mmm?" Kogoro's hand against the wall, the table with telephone on it was right next to them. (Damn, why can't someone call at this moment? We always get tons of calls, from fans or for cases, why not now????!!!!!) Conan thought as his eyes glanced at the telephone next to him.   
  
Kazuha helped Ran sit back into her wheelchair, and asked, "Ran-chan, you sure you're alright?" It was the first time Ran felt that Kazuha actually cared about her. A warm feeling from her heart spread all around her body, it was the sweet feeling of a real friendship. Then, she gave her a solemn nod.  
  
Meanwhile, Conan was still questioned by Kogoro, who, for some reason finally woke up from the dimness. (Gez...Why can't he be that smart at other murder cases?) Conan thought.  
  
"Oh! Kogoro-san, I thought you said you already solved this case, can you please tell us? Please?" Said Conan, trying to get his attention of him.   
  
At last, Kogoro gave up questioning Conan, and concentrated on the case again. "Of course I solved it! Don't forget who I am! I'm the meitantei Mouri!{(You forgot the sleeping part baka!) Conan thought.} The letter is an invitation from inspector Megure." His hands pulled his suit together, then reached out for the letter.  
  
"In...invitation?" Heiji and Conan said at once. Ran and Kazuha stared back at the "great detective".  
  
After making sure that he was getting all the attentions in the house, he continued, "He wants us to go to the warm spring at new years eve. The hottest place simply means warm spring, and a detective cares about activities too. After all of our hard work, I think we do deserve a little relaxation and rest, and a warm spring party is great, don't you think? Ha! A great detective like me can solve these cases easily, can't you see? I'm born to be a great detective, greater then that Kudo Shinichi. Inspector meant to write a letter like that, but the reason..."   
  
Before he could continue on, Conan, Heiji, Ran and kazuha's were already half way shut. (Bakuchi! Even dummies would've known this isn't an invitation! Did you fell asleep again?) The great detective of the eastern and western thought at the same time.   
  
"Please...Obviously it's not that easy. This case is much more complicated than you think." Heiji said at last.  
  
"What does that mean? You're just jealous that I solved it before you did! I can call Inspector Megure to confirm right now if you want me to!" He picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number.   
  
Ran tabbed Kazuha's hand, which had fell to her wheelchair's handle when her dad said 'I've got it'. "Do you want to go to my room Kazuha-chan?"   
  
"Sure, why not? I've never seen your room before." Kazuha said as she pushed Ran's wheelchair towards the direction Ran was pointing at.  
  
When they stepped into her room, the door was shut and locked. Then, they fell into a private girl chat.  
  
As Kogoro continued dialing and waiting for the connection, the television on his desk reports news, which had made Heiji and Conan attracted in it.   
  
"Today's headline, there's been a murder case in Tokyo hotel. The victim was an antique collector. According to the police, he died from the knife on his chest near his heart. No suspects have been spot yet, all fingerprints and all other possible clues in the scene has been cleaned by the crime. Also, a man who shall not be named discovered another body in the Beika park, and the victim was a worker in the museum and he died from the same reason as the first murder. Around noon, the police got a report that someone found a victim in the Tropical Land, the best amusement park in Tokyo. The victim's identity cannot be identified due to several reasons, and he died from the same reason as above. Something even more incredible, next to those three victims, there were words written in blood. The first one read "I'm waiting", the second one is "for you" and the last one said "detectives". The police are still in the progress of investigating, more news will be reported in tonight's news. Now back to the weather..."  
  
Conan, who was holding the television couldn't put his two lips together. Blue eyes behind the glasses were as wide as ever. (Coincidence, it has to be a coincidence...) Surprisingly, Heiji's expression was just like Conan's. "That's impossible..."  
  
"WHAT? What do you mean you never sent me an invitation? But..." Kogoro lowered his voice from screaming to whisper, then to speechless. He Hang up the phone by throwing it back, "DARNIT! Why?!"   
  
Heiji and Conan took no notice of Kogoro's upset action, they knew this will happen sooner or later. What's bothering them is the truth of this case, if the crime's destination is to get the detectives' attention, then this murder game might not yet reached it's "game over". But why would a crime chose to send frighten letter to the best detective of Nippon? Is it some sort of challenge?  
  
As more and more questions arrived in their mind, a little sound came from the outside of the window. "Who's there?" Conan cried out first. Then he ran to the window, seized the handle bar and pushed it open. Gazing down at the busy street, there were no sigh of any suspicious people.   
  
-------In Ran's Room-------  
  
"Do you really mean it? That idiot didn't contact you again after the time you two met in the restaurant?!" Kazuha asked with surprise after she saw the picture of Ran and Shinichi in Tropical Land.  
  
"Y...Yeah...I tried to call him over the cellular phone, but he never answered. I guess he already forgot about me..." Ran said with a pity voice, as if the lie was real, Or...is it?  
  
"If I were you, the next time he calls, I will just pick the phone and yell 'Get lost! I'm not important to you anymore, go and solve your stupid cases, and see if I care!' *sign* I feel sorry for you, that bakuchi boyfriend of yours. I bet he doesn't even know you've been worrying about him. I bet he's out there and forgot all about you! That kind of person, just forget about him and find someone else Ran-chan."  
  
Ran blushed after Kazuha's word, and quickly, she replied, "He's not my boyfriend, he's just...just...a very good normal friend."  
  
Kazuha looked back at her friend, smiling, "Oh when are you going to admit it? Everybody around the country knows Kudo Shinichi has a girlfriend named Mouri Ran. You don't know how lucky you are! Do you know how many girls are after your 'very-good-normal-friend'? They can fill in the whole city!"  
  
Still blushing, "Really? Mm...Sometimes I ask myself, why do I like him." She began to spill out her secret from the heart, "He's just a detective who has tons of fans, his soccer skill is unmatched, handsome, gentle and intelligent...hehe, Okay, I think I have enough reasons..." Then, they both burst out a giggle, but they kept it no louder then a whistle, in case if the boys outside will hear.   
  
"Hey Ran-chan, I've always wanted to ask you something." Kazuha said, who was sitting on Ran's bed and facing the girl in the wheelchair, "How did that detective ask you for the first date?"  
  
"The first date?" Ran flushed for the fifth time of the day, "That was a long time ago. If I remembered it right, that was when we're in elementary school, well, I guess it's not really that kind of date, but..."   
  
  
----{{{{{ Flashback }}}}}------  
  
  
After school, someone clapped Ran's shoulder. It was a boy's hand, Ran looked back at the person she had been expecting.   
  
"Shinichi-kun! I've been waiting for you for hours! Where have you been?" The little girl seized Shinichi's hand and whirled to face him.  
  
"You should've known I was at the soccer practice! Our big game is next week, oh boy, I can't wait! Hey guess what? I got another A plus in math! I bet my parents will buy me more detective books!" The little boy said, under his left arm was a soccer ball, which had been in Ran's memory ever since the first time she met Shinichi. His shirt and pants were all covered with mud and dirt, as always.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, detective books. I don't see what's so interesting about detectives. They are just people who solved cases, that's all." Ran looked away, tired by her friend's detective talk.  
  
"But they are cool! Anyways, I-I just want to ask you...um..." He hurries and moved his sight when Ran's connected with his. Starring down at his toe like he had never seen an object like that before, he said hesitantly with his face as red as a ripe apple, but still, he couldn't finish.  
  
"Ask me what? Don't tell me you forgot to copy down your homework again!" Ran crossed her arm in front of her chest, which had covered the ribbon in the middle of her school uniform.   
  
"N-No, I copied it. I-I just want to ask y-you if you can come o-over to my house t-this Sunday, then maybe w-we can go to t-the Tropical L-Land together. If you're free on Sunday that is." Finally, he finished, embarrassed as ever. But of course, the Ran at that age didn't understand it at all. All she knew was going to a friend's house and play together.  
  
"Cool! I'll ask my mama and papa if I can go. Um...I'll call you tonight, okay?" She was delighted that she finally found a plan for the weekend, or else she's going to stay home and do extra homework.   
  
Shinichi nodded, smiling. He was pleased that his first request successes. Slowly, his hand grabbed hers, and as usual, they walked home together. Both of them were humming their favorite songs, for different reasons.  
  
Only three days seems like years at that time. Finally, the day came.   
  
When Ran waved her hand, but there wasn't any reply. So she looked up from the telescope in the sightseeing tower, Shinichi was nowhere to be found. (Shinichi? Where are you?)   
  
All of the sudden, a feeling of something icy cold on her cheek, and a male voice came from her back, "Did I scare you?" He said, throwing a soda to his friend.  
  
"O-Of course you didn't!" Ran countered.   
  
"Ah who cares if I scared you or not, but you gotta come with me, hurry!" He seized her sleeve and start to ran towards the center of the park.  
  
As soon as they stepped a circle, Shinichi stopped running. Holding Ran's hand, he said excitedly, "Yes! Just in time!"  
  
Ran looked up at him, still confused about the whole thing. Before long, every mystery inside her head organized into one straight line. The circle around them sudden blast into hundreds of little fountain, which knit together into the most beautiful scene Ran had ever seen. In the middle were the little couple, hands together and enjoying this wonderful moment.   
  
With a feeling of their hands separated, Ran looked back, Shinichi was already five meters away from her. Bending down, his knees almost touched the ground. Ran was sure that he had found something strange. "Shinichi-kun, is everything okay? What are you doing?"   
  
He did not look back, pointing at a little shining circle next to him and said, "Take a look at this!" He pushed that little circle slightly, nothing happened. The circle had a weird pattern, some words on it was unreadable to both of them. It almost looked like an ancient piece of artwork.  
  
"What's wrong with that? You can find tons of circles around this park!" Ran said, who was already sitting next to him.   
  
"But...Never mind..." He stood up and helped Ran onto her feet. Then, they realized that they were the only inside this circle. "I never knew water could be so beautiful." Shinichi said, but looking at Ran.   
  
The wind flew past Ran's skin, her ever-so-soft dress danced behind her with her silky brown hair, that extraordinary feeling was not words to describe. Ran felt like as if she and Shinichi had already been separated with the reality world. Their minds whirled them into the sweetest illusion, as if they were standing in another world, the world that only belongs to them. Everything on the outside kept on getting blurry as the timed fountain went off and almost became a mirror. Yes, that was the first time, the first time Shinichi took Ran to that park. After that time, they went there almost every month. As time passed on, that park, that fountain had became their secret meeting place until the night this young couple's nightmare had begun...  
  
----{{{{{ End Flashback }}}}}------  
(CK: Why am I writing this non-sense? Hehe...You'll see...)  
  
  
  
"Hey Ran-chan! Are you all right? Talk to me!" Kazuha interrupted Ran's flashback and brought her back to the reality world.  
  
(So that's why he starts to take me to that place every time, to refresh my memory.) Ran thought, who suddenly woke up from the flash of her memory, "E? Oh hi!" She said to Kazuha in amazement.   
  
  
-------In the living room/Mouri's tantei agency------  
  
  
The three of them were still thinking when a phone call arrived, but it was Conan's cellular phone. "Moshi moshi, Edogawa   
desu." Conan answered.   
  
"Listen kudo Shinichi, I don't care if you are a famous detective or not. I know your friend's at your place and you three are discussing that letter I sent. What I want you to know is, when you solved that letter, only, I said only you and another detective may come. If anyone else comes besides you two, I will kill all of you. I do what I say. You'll have until tomorrow night at seven to come to the place where I'll wait for you. If you don't come, then the whole Tokyo will be reducing to ashes, same thing will happen if more than one person is with you. Hehe, choose your action carefully before you make any immutable mistakes. I'll see you then."   
  
The voice on the other end ended as Conan pushed the "End conversation" button on his cellular phone. Remaining the way he stood before he picked up the phone, the voice of that strange man echoed in his head. ("Reduce to ashes...only two...Kudo Shinichi...I will kill all of you...Any immutable mistake...")  
  
"Conan-kun! Are you all right? Hey!" Heiji shook Conan's body, but still, he didn't move an inch. "Who was it? Hun? ANSWER ME!!!!!!!!!!!" Then, he decided to yell straight into his ear.  
  
"It's him." Conan finally answered.  
  
"Who? Who's he?"  
  
"The sender of your letter, he knows you are here, he knows everything we did here. H-he said if we don't solve this case before tomorrow seven o'clock post meridiem, t-then not just us, the whole city will turn into ashes." conan looked down at his toe, and grind his teeth to close his anger inside him.  
  
"Do you recognize his voice?"  
  
"No, I think he used a machine to change his voice. But whoever he is, we have to find him and fast!" Conan looked up into Heiji's deep brown eyes.  
  
"Yes, we must find him in twenty-nine hours, especially when we have no clue of where he can be. But before we do, tell me everything he told you in the conversation." He dropped his hands on both of Conan's shoulders, turned him around. Conan looked thoughtful, considering Heiji's personality and other important things, he said, "That wouldn't be necessary.   
  
All you need to know is what I already told you. To tell you more will only bring you more harm, and I won't do that if today's the last day of this universe. I'm not trying to make you mad, but you know I've already done lots of harms to hurt someone I care the most, and I can't let that happen to you!" Conan suddenly burst out the words that even he didn't expect to say, but it was true. He had hid that message in his heart for the past year.  
  
With a sigh, Heiji whispered without looking at Conan, "If you say so."   
  
The self-named "Best Detective In the country" Kogoro watched their action, annoyed, as usual. Tighten his fist, he rose his voice, but before he can began the doorbell was rung by a mid-aged man. So, Heiji reached out his hand and turned the doorknob.  
  
"Oh hi Heiji-san, I came here as fast as that old police car can carry me, we did have trouble with the fuel but..." Inspector Megure, dressed in orange suit like every time tried to explain his journey, but was interrupt by Kogoro's sudden greeting.  
  
"AH! INSPECTOR MEGURE! What a pleasure to meet you! It's been a long time since the last time we met, here, make yourself comfortable, I'll get you something to eat..." He lift up one leg, but then halted, (wait a minute, I don't know how to make food...)  
  
"Um...On second thought, how about some drinks?" But he froze again when he arrived at the kitchen door, (what am I doing? Ran never told me where the cups are!)  
  
He turned around to face Inspector, smiling. Right arm above his shoulder and forearm bending down to reach the neck.   
  
Inspector Megure saw his brow and understood everything. He smiled back at him, trying not to show his laugh, he said, "That's alright, I'm fine just sitting here."  
  
"G...Gomensai." Kogoro apologized.  
  
"Nah, don't mind it, I do that all the time. Now, let's all get to serious business." He took out a huge pile of files from his bag, and laid them on the table in front of him.  
  
  
---------------------Down on the street, about 500m from Mouri's detective agency---------------------  
  
"That Conan, I thought for sure he'd come back for his presents, but look! We get to carry all those things back for him!" Ayumi complained.  
  
"Un-Hun, wait 'till tomorrow, I'll teach him a lesson!" Genta said, walking down the street, hands full of well wrapped presents.   
  
Mitsuhiko didn't pay attention to their conversation at all, he was now about a feet or two behind and was walking with unsteady steps. "Some...body...HELP!" The next thing they heard was a big crash. Mitsuhiko had crushed into a telephone booth when all the presents are in front of him and blocking his sight.   
  
"Tsuburaya! Daijoobu?" Genta and Ayumi bend down at the same time, ignoring Ai, who, as usual remained cool and calm.   
  
"I guess...Ow! Genta-kun, you want to pull my arm off or something?" Mitsuhiko screamed in pain when Genta tried lift him up by pulling him on the arm with all of his strength.  
  
(It's unbelievable, it seems like just yesterday I was still sitting in that laboratory, doing research for APTX4869. I can't believe it's been a year already. If I ever go back there, I don't even know if I'll still remember the directions...)Ai looked at those playful kids, once again, her tension covered her smile. (When is my second childhood life going to end?)  
  
"Ai-chan! You can't just stand there and watch us, help us!" Ayumi called without looking back, they were all busy picking up presents.  
  
"Hun? Oh...Okay..." She sighed.  
  
  
-----------Somewhere down in Tokyo, in a dark room-------------  
  
A young girl with brown hair, no bigger then ten years old looked out the window. Gazing up at the bright sun and disclosed a cold smile at the edge of her mouth. Only five people in this world know her, everyone of her action were carefully planned, even walking to a store. Her eyes' filled with intelligence and was way too deep to be fathomabled. In her hand was a cellular phone, still turned on.  
  
"I'll get you...I'll get you all..." She whispered to herself.  
  
  
  
  
-TO BE CONTINUED  
  
===============================================================================================  
  
A/N: Well, that's chapter 2. What do you think? Okay, so I did put too much non-sense in this chapter, but hey, you'll never know the reason until chapter 3. Some part of the solution of this case will be revealed in the next chapter, so I'll probably keep it for a while so you'll have a chance to solve it on your own. Please Read & Rate, tell me if you want to read the rest chapters, I really need your word so I'll know if I should write more or just stop here. Je Ne!!! (^_^)   
---Conankudo  
  
  
***  
|{ Enclosed Character Name Flip }|  
  
JAPANESE NAME(Last, First) = NAME IN STORY = CHINESE TRANSLATION(Last, First)  
  
Edogawa Conan = Conan = Jiang Hu chuan Ke Nan  
Kudo Shinichi = Shinichi/Kudo = Gong Teng Xin Yi  
Mouri Ran = Ran = Mao Li Lan  
Mouri Kogoro = Kogoro = Mao Li xiao Wu Lang  
Hattori Heiji = Heiji = Fu Bu Pin Ci  
Toyama Kazuha = Kazuha = Yuan Shan He Ye  
Haibara Ai = Ai = Hui Yuan Yuan  
Yoshida Ayumi = Ayumi = Je Tian Bu Mei  
Kojima Genta = Genta = Xiao Dao Yuan Tai  
Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko = Tsubu. Mitsuhiko = Yuan Gu Guan Yan  
Inspector Megure = Inspector Megure = Mu Mu Jin Guan  
Dr. Agasa = Agasa = A Li Bo Shi  
Ruki Mitsukata = Ruki = ? ? ? ? (Unknown, since I made this character up)  
  
  
More characters will be added as this fanfiction goes on :) And yes, there will be more!  
  
#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#  
READ THIS ONLY IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SENDING IN OPINIONS!  
  
  
  
  
Okay, so you decide to spend a little time doing me a little favor?   
  
Below is the short description of the other two new fanfics I'm about to start, email me at fanfic_conankudo@yahoo.com and tell me if I should write them or not. Thanks! ^^  
  
1. Revenge  
  
The person finally revealed his true identity, but is that a good news or a nightmare? Will our dear four teenagers pass the test and survive, or are they all going to end their lives together in this game? Read and find out more!   
  
  
  
2. The Triangle  
  
Because of Conan/Shinichi, Ran and Shiho turned from friends to enemies. Will Conan be able to stop this without hurting one AND protect his own identity? His decision might affect his life, forever...   
  
  
Well? 


	3. The Game

A/N: Hello again, I'd say there's still about 1 or 2 chapters on Identity after this chapter, I hope you are enjoying this anfiction! Since I got less votes for "Revenge", so I decide to put some of that story and combine it with this one, which will make this one longer than I expect it to be when I start it. It's not that easy to write two fanfictions, construct two websites and work on your schoolwork at once, so my pace for this fanfiction might slow down... or even stop!? Just kidding.  
  
I attempted to make this chapter as interesting as I can, but I'm not perfect. So please excuse me from all the grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors you may find in this chapter. Comments, suggestions, and pre-read editors will be highly appreciated, email me at fanfic_conankudo@yahoo.com  
  
WARNING: This chapter contain solution to this case, so if you don't want to know it before you solve it yourself first, my suggestion is stop here and continue on when you are ready.   
  
As always, Detective Conan belongs to the talented artist and my admirer, Gosho Aoyama, I only claim copyright to Ruki, Balkan and the story itself.  
  
In addition, I apologize to the unexpected delay of this chapter's publish date. Go ahead, scream at me or even slaughter me if you want to (as long as you are not using the martial arts, I'm happy). But still, please review? *smile*  
  
  
  
=============================================  
Identity  
Chapter 3 - The Game  
By: ConanKudo  
  
  
As Inspector Megure asked Kogoro again about the case, Kogoro gave him the same answer as what he did before. The criminal will show up at the warm spring. However, Conan didn't expect him to know anything. This case was more complicated than all others he had faced, and even to him it is a big challenge.  
  
"Are you really sure warm spring is the place?" Inspector Megure asked once more.  
  
"Of course! Where else?" Said Kogoro, arms crossing and unsatisfied with the inspector's mistrust.  
  
"Indeed we can't think of anywhere else at this moment, but... If what you say is the truth, then...How come you...erm...didn't fell asleep?"   
  
'How come I don't remember anything about fell asleep while solving the case?' Kogoro thought, feigning a laugh and quickly he came up with an excuse, "Nah.I'm already tired of that stupid sleeping pose, and a famous detective like me can't always use one pose, besides, don't you think this pose is much better that the old one? I should call it the "'Famous detective Mouri Kogoro's trademark pose!'"   
  
Megure laughed alone with him, and rapidly moved closer to Kogoro and whispered with a hand covering, "Hey, don't lose to that Osaka kid again! I've got faith in you!"  
  
Conan relaxed himself on the couch, revealed a little complicated and mature expression, fortunately, none of the others noticed except for his Osaka friend. 'The hottest place in Tokyo? hot...warm...fiery...burn...flaming...t-tropical!' Conan released the hand which was holding up his chin, and gasped loudly.  
  
"Eh? What's up with that kid now?" Kogoro asked with frown.  
  
There was no answer.  
  
'Wait...wait a minute, if that's tropical. Then...the antonym for tropical is...!!!' Conan chuckled and slowly turned into a quiet laugh. 'Now I already know where we are going, but there's still something wierd...' He stared at his notebook once more.  
  
"...???..." Kogoro and inspector looked at each other, wondering why a little kid would smirk like that.  
  
"Tell me!" Heiji bend down and whispered.  
  
"We are going to the amusement park, Heiji-san!" Conan said with a half moon eye.  
  
"A-amusement Park? Are you insane? This is no time to play!"   
  
"Oh you'll see...Oh yeah, we can't leave...yet..." Conan chuckled some more, eyes shining as if he had already seen through the case's truth, and whispered something into Heiji's ear.  
  
  
------ First Floor of Kogoro's Detective Agency ------  
  
  
The four kept on heading towards Conan's house until Ai stopped then before they had a chance to step on the stairs, "I'll take it now, it's getting late, you three better get home, I can handle those." She said while taking over those presents from their hand with out any permission.  
  
Ayumi felt her hands empty and asked, "Why? We are already here! It won't take more than one minute to deliver those presents to his hand."  
  
"Yeah!" Mitsuhiko finally got his chance to see things in front of him.  
  
"Heehee, are you going to have a private conversation with Conan, Ai-Chan?" Genta asked and smirked.  
  
Ai turned and glanced at Genta, "No. I just want to tell him something he asked me about." 'Those kids are becoming hard to get rid of!' She thought.  
  
"O-oh, alright then...Let's go, maybe we'll still have a chance to watch the last episode of that cartoon show!" Mitsuhiko pulled Genta and began to run, not noticing that Ayumi wasn't with them. "Hurry, I don't want to miss that episode!"  
  
"A-Ai Ch-Chan?" Ayumi asked with pink skin.  
  
"Yeah?" Surprised that one of them actually stayed.  
  
"Now that they are gone, can you please tell me why you want to go see...Conan-kun, by yourself?" She asked, giving Ai a feeling that she was jealous.  
  
'I never knew kids today are that...naive!' "Take it easy Ayumi-Chan, I'm just going to deliver those presents to Conan-kun.   
That's all!" Half of her words were a lie, she smiled at the real first grader.  
  
"N-nothing else? You promise?" Ayumi still wouldn't let Ai go.  
  
Ai nodded, "I swear, now I think you should go home, it's almost six!" She pushed Ayumi towards the direction of her house slightly.  
  
The little girl looked back once more, biting her lips and finally went away home.   
  
Ai watched her shadow vanish at the corner of the street and let out a sigh, lift up her little foot and stepped on the stairs with presents full in her hands. 'Sorry Kudo, for I didn't gave you the real antidote. The one you have in hand will only work for two to three hours, after that you will have a chance to live or die. I hope you will understand   
that I can't gave you the real one until the whole organization is arrested...'  
  
Heavy steps brought her upstairs and in front of the door, but instead of knocking on the door and go in, she dropped the presents next to it and went downstairs, into the coffee shop and then the bathroom. There she ate the pill---The real pill.  
  
Steams and painful struggling were the last thing she knew before her short black out, "Kudo...I hope you know...I'm doing this...all this...f..o.r...y..ou..." She muttered before completely fellunconscious.  
  
Meanwhile in the agency, there was an awkward atmosphere, which kept the three detectives and an Inspector under silence. When all of the sudden they heard the door bell rang.   
  
"Probably someone here for a case." Kogoro murmured as he walked towards the door and turned it impatiently.  
  
Without even look at who's in front of him, he denied, "Sorry, I don't accept any more cases today, please come back in..." He halted when he finally did look up. Not knowing what to do to apologize or what do to next, he just stared.  
  
A young girl at the age of 18, reddish hair was some sweat drops on it. Her face was almost as red as her hair, some fast pants went out of her mouth. Black sleeveless woolen sweater suited her perfectly and a short skirt that was ruffled. However, her black and shank lengthen boot were still worn tightly around her legs even though it's mid-summer.   
And yet she was another young woman Kogoro would "crush" on, slowly he revealed a smirked at her.  
  
"...Never mind what I said before...Ahem...Hello there young lady..." Kogoro dashed into the closet, changed into a blue clean suit, a red rose in his hand, "How may I help you, miss?" He crossed his left leg over his right; Put one of his arm straight out by the wall and the other in his pocket.  
  
"Uh..." Ai didn't know how to react for a moment, sweats dropped, "...Actually, I've come here to talk to Ku...I mean, Edogawa-kun." 'That was close...'  
  
Kogoro glimpsed at Conan, who walked to them when he heard someone said his name. "You mean...him?" Kogoro pointed at him first then picked Conan up, disappointed that this pretty girl didn't come for him.  
  
"Y-yes..." Ai was even more surprised when she saw Conan being 'picked up' that easily.  
  
Conan amazed to see Ai in her older form for the first time. Although he had heard her real voice last time, but they never got a chance to see each other. {A/N: Ai returned to her true form for a while back in vol. 24 "Meeting again with the darkness organization" But Conan wasn't around.} Staring at the figure, which stood stilly before him, Conan looked up at her face, flushed slightly but quickly shook his head.   
  
'Eh, what am I thinking?' When he finally got a chance to stand up again, still gazing up at her like he'd never seen her before, "You called me?"  
  
"Yeah, it's about...um...your classmate Ayumi-Chan, I'm her older sister, remember?" She hinting at him to play along with her.  
  
Inspector Megure called from behind, "Kogoro-san, is someone here for a case? If necessary, I can go back to my office."  
  
"Hun?" Kogoro whirled back and replied, "Oh, no, it's just that brat's friend." He said while walking to the couch and sat next to inspector, went on with their conversation.  
  
After Conan shut the door and finally calming down, he asked in his usual tone, "You could've warned me before taking the antidote! What's the point of showing up like this, what if those guys discovers you?"   
  
Shiho smiled slightly and leaned down, "Since when did you start to worry about me?"   
  
Conan glared back at her, "PLEASE! You know I'm just concerning about my identity!"   
  
"Really? You swear you are not worried about me, not even a bit?"   
  
Conan looked up at her, getting annoyed, "I'm going back to that room." He turned, but walking in a slow speed and waiting Ai to stop him and finally tells him her real destination.  
  
"Fine, I'll tell you." She said before he stepped out, "But it's no big deal, really."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I'm going to...gave up my identity and return to the organization." She looked away in order to avoid Conan's sight.  
  
"Y-you're WHAT?" Conan's eyes widened.  
  
She looked up, and replied, "Don't hate me Kudo, after nearly half year of consideration, this is the best I can come up with, for both of our future fate."  
  
"B-But...WHAT ABOUT ME?" He shouted in infuriation.  
  
Ai's smiling sight was then replaced by an unfathomable gaze, "Kudo, sometimes one has to face their own destiny and confront their situation. You heard what your girl friend said last time, we have to face those conditions with courage with confidence and resolution."  
  
"What?" Said Conan, who was even more confused.  
  
A white bottle flashed before his eyes, "This is what I mean."  
  
Conan blinked, attempting his best to understand what she meant by using all of his logic and deduction, but still, he got no conclusion. So he just stared at her with puzzlement.  
  
Satisfied with Conan's perplexity and her faintly hint, she turned and said, "Anyways, I'm suppose to deliver you those. Who knows if it'll be useful for you and Ran's child? As for that test, I'm obviously not going to university again! And I couldn't suggest you to, either. Well, Good luck with the case you are on!" She pointed at the presents, which she dropped off earlier.  
  
Leaving Conan glaring at her with a blushing face, she began her way to Dr. Agasa's house. "Oh yeah, by the way, I heard them saying that something's going on in the organization. And I was just kidding about my identity part."   
  
Conan watched her shadow slowly vanished from the staircase, and finally managed to yell out, "Wait! Come back, you owe me lots of explanations here!"   
  
But there was no respond.  
  
"What does she mean?" Conan murmured as he went back into the house.  
  
At the first step in the house, a strong force came from Conan's back and all of the sudden he was in the mid air, and a voice came after, "What's the point of screaming outside the door, gaki?"   
  
Conan looked back, slowly lift his sight to Kogoro's and gulped, heartbeat increased a little as he just realized what would happen next. Like he had expected, a hard red bun appeared on top of his head. 'Gez, what kind of family is this?'  
  
  
----------In a Dark Room----------  
  
A little girl sat in her red armchair, still smiling, she took another look at her cellar phone and whispered to it, "Now, you don't really think my game will be this easy, do you? Kudo Shinichi, you and your friends are going to lose this game..."  
  
  
  
----------Ran's room----------  
  
After another long chitchat, they began to feel a little exhaust and hungry. Ran checked her watch and gasped in surprise.   
  
"You are not going to believe this, Kazuha-chan, but it's 7:30 already! I hope they didn't go out for dinner without us!" They quiet down and listened carefully for any sign of other people in this house except for them.   
  
During the silence, they heard a mid-age man's stupid laugh and some teenager's murmurs. "I guess they forgot about the time." Kazuha said at last.  
  
"Yeah...Well, I guess our chitchat time is over already. I'd better cook something before they realize how late it is!" Ran pushed herself forward to the kitchen.  
  
Kazuha followed, and helped Ran on her way, "I'll help you."  
  
Outside their room, the house seems like it had had a make over during their conversation in the bedroom, garbage were everywhere, cigarette ashes spread around the table and floor.   
  
Kogoro sat in his chair, both feet on his desk, at least what he called a desk. His eyes filled with annoyiance and impatience. A loose blue suit on his body lowered the taste of his unkempt appearance. Inspector Megure looked a little calmer than Kogoro, crossing arms as usual and kept on sighing.  
  
Conan and Heiji rested their heads in palms and just stared at the paper in front of them. Nevertheless, their vision were totally different from the others, they were waiting, waiting for something?  
  
Ran's index finger ran across her lips and made a quiet sign to Kazuha, hinting her to be quiet while they sneak into the kitchen" without letting others notice. However, it was impossible because of Ran's wheelchair, just a moment later, a male voice called. "Where are you going?" 'Damn wheelchair!' Ran hammered the wheelchair slightly.  
  
"Um...we're...cooking?" Kazuha rolled her eyes.  
  
"cook?!" Kogoro got up to his feet, "Are you two insane? Ran! You are trying to go back to the hospital or something? And, you can barely reach the stove like this!"   
  
"That's why I have Kazuha-chan here to help me!"  
  
Kogoro stared for a moment, "We'll order something from other stores."  
  
"But Kogoro-san...!" Conan pulled Kogoro's shirttail to get his attention. He was, yet, so used to whatever he will get from Kogoro after each one of his request or question. It sometimes makes him wonder if he's really *that* not welcomed in this family.   
  
Kogoro glanced at the person behind him, impatiently and replied, "What do you want now, kid?"   
  
'Well, I guess that was polite compare to others.' Conan felt a cold sweat drop down his face.  
  
"I just thought that...you might want to know that...all stores are closed now...the ones with hot deli food I mean!"  
  
"Dad! Honestly, would you rather starve to death or eat something we cook? Or...would you prefer me to call mom and you can enjoy her wonderful, delicious and absolutely trademark dinner?" Ran hid a smile.  
  
The last "Or" changed Kogoro's mind completely about what he had said, considering that his stomach might have a huge remonstrate parade afterwards as always, he said reluctantly, "Fine fine fine, but you better be careful! Call me if you need any help!!!"  
  
Ran tried not to show her laugh, but it was just too hard, soon, the whole room burst out a laugh. Everyone was laughing loudly and the volume was uncontrollable. 'A-ask him for help? on cooking? You got to be kidding me, Kogoro-san!' Conan snickered. Only Kogoro remain silent, scratching his head smoothly and attempting to figure out what everyone was laughing at.   
  
After a while, as the laughs started fading away, with Kogoro sitting uncomfortably on the couch, he finally asked "are you people, err...finished?"  
  
Everyone looked back at him, as if they had already forgotten that he was in the room with them and why they'd laughed so hard.   
  
Then there was an awkward silence, one big party was afraid to begin the subject and the other was completely confused.  
  
Before Kogoro's temper can reach its acme, Ran suggested, "We'll be in the kitchen, then."   
  
Kazuha smiled and assisted her to the kitchen door, while they were walking, an eye behind an infrared telescope monitored their action carefully.   
  
After the dinner was served without Kogoro's useless help, inspector Megure left the agency and headed back to the Tokyo police station for more crime research. Kogoro and the teenagers watched some television show and all went to bed early.   
  
It took a long time for Kazuha and Ran to end their night chitchat, which was annoying the other two boys crazy in the next room, especially the subjects they talked about and the length of their "before-bed-short-talk".  
  
Another hour passed by and they finally dimmed the light. The boys let out a sigh of relief, finally!   
  
Conan removed his glasses and placed them on the night stand, turned and said, "We better get some sleep too, but our sleep won't be as long as theirs."   
  
Heiji stared at Conan, who was sleeping next to him on his bed and asked, "How come?"  
  
Conan looked back at him for a minute, "Idiot, we still have that person to find."  
  
"There'll be plenty time tomorrow morning."   
  
"Do you think we can go alone like the sender of your letter threatened us to, if we leave in the morning? I know Ran too well, it will be impossible to leave and convince them we'll come back without a single wound." Conan frowned.  
  
"K-Kudo..."  
  
"Especially in this body." He continued, "It'll be lot easier for you to tell Kazuha-chan about this case, but...a seven years old telling a seventeen years old not to follow me because I got a dangerous case to deal with? I'll be lucky if she doesn't think I'm insane!"  
  
And then there was silence, a complicated one; one filled with thoughts.  
  
The dim moonlight shone through his half transparent curtain, breeze smoothly brushed it and blew in some night freshness. Stars twinkled high up in the night sky, tonight, however, it seems so near but infinitely unreachable.   
  
Heiji gazed into Conan's serious blue eyes, he was desperately in need of help. As a friend, he wanted to do something, but he know, perhaps too well, Kudo can only be comforted by the one he's thinking of.   
  
"Maybe you should tell her, it can't go on like this forever." He finally said softly.  
  
Conan sighed, it wasn't the first time he had heard this sentence from others. 'Is life playing a joke on me, or what? Why am I treated like this? It's so unfair! All I want is be in my *real* form, is that too much to ask?! Please, let this horrific nightmare end!!!'  
  
Conan turned and lay crosswise, facing the darkened window. He slowly closed his eyes in distress and tiredness. As usual, his miserable history flashed before his eyes, had he really experienced this much in just a year?   
  
"Look, it's not like you can get away with it forever you know." Heiji continued.  
  
"...So? Lies are already made, I already betrayed my true self. I once told myself when I was twelve that I will never lie in my entire life, but look at me right now. I'm nothing but a helpless seven year old, who had already caused lots of people worrying about..." Conan whispered.  
  
"But...If you don't tell, she's still going to find out one day, it's just the matter of time. Tell or not, Kudo, though I'm not you, but I do know that you already carved a wound in her heart, you left her with confusion, anger and hope. It's becoming impossible. Kudo perhaps you can see through a crime's mind easily, but have you ever *tried* to look through hers?" Heiji used his upper arm and elbow as sustain and rested his head in his hand, still facing Conan.  
  
Another long sigh came out between Conan's lips, abandoning all his deduction and logic skills at the moment, for none of them could help him on this 'case'.  
  
"Good night Heiji, we've got a lot to do tomorrow." Conan ended their conversation, then buried his face in his pillow and two hands holding his head on both sides, he was afraid that Heiji would say anything after it.   
  
Heiji saw his friend, understood that he doesn't want to hear anything else at the moment. So they slept, and soon both fell into a restless sleep.  
  
*~*  
  
At dawn, with the first sight of sunlight, Conan woke up Heiji. When they are both ready to leave, Conan hesitant before Ran's door, he halted his steps and looked at the door, hands moving slightly up, wanting to knock on the door.  
  
'Ran...Maybe you *do* deserve the truth...' Conan looked back at Heiji.  
  
The great detective of western saw Conan's falter expression, and managed to decide for him. He grabbed Conan's hand, pushed the girls' door open and pushed him inside.   
  
No more than a few second later, noises of arguments, feigned laughter, yawns and continuous apologies came out of their room. Apparently, Heiji's plan of making Conan to spill out the truth to the girls was a total failure.   
  
"Heiji, are you insane, or did your IQ suddenly drop to the level that you can't even read the clock?" Kazuha said, while smacking Heiji on the head.  
  
"Conan-kun! What do you think you are doing up at the crack of dawn? School doesn't start until seven!" Ran questioned in a sleepy tone.  
  
"It's all his fault!" Heiji and Conan pointed at each other, and shouted out at once.   
  
"I wouldn't say that if I were you!" Conan whispered and shot a glare at Heiji.  
  
A man still in his pajama leaned at the doorway. His hair was indescribable messy and his eyes were still half shut with tiredness. Though the four of them can only see a little part of his eyes, but it was enough to tell them that he was not pleased with whatever was bothering him.   
  
'Uh-oh...' Conan gulped. After living with Kogoro for such a long time, Conan had learned a lot about his personality. 'Here we go...5...4...3...2...1...' He winced slightly.  
  
Taking a deep breath, Kogoro lost control of his temper and yelled out, "Just what do you think you four are doing in the same room, shouting to each other!?!"  
  
The rest of the morning was, to put it briefly was filled with events.  
  
  
----------------------- Back to the mysterious girl ---------------------------  
  
"Master, I have just arrived." A young man's voice in fluent English sounded behind the little girl.  
  
"Hmm...Good. Now we can finally start this game." The little girl smiled, replied, also in fluent English, and turned back to look at the young man.  
  
  
  
---------------------- Mouri's detective Agency ----------------------  
  
The sun brightly shone into their house, all five of them were still in Ran's room, and none of them would give up on the arguments they had started.  
  
It was noon already, but none of them ate anything since last night. The argument had kept them fairly busy all morning, and when they finally realized the time, all of them were in shock.   
  
Almost instantly, Heiji and Conan looked at each other, jaws dropped open and closed it with an audible sound. Quickly, they looked at the digital clock on Ran's nightstand table, and yelped when they saw the time   
showed upon it.  
  
"T-t-two thirty!" They cried out at once.  
  
'That means we only have...about...four hours and thirty minutes left! DAMN!' Conan tightened his fist. After a grab of his solar powered skateboard and his backpack, they rushed out the door and began to run as fast as their legs can carry them. Of course, Heiji had to follow Conan, since he has no idea where the Tropical Land is. Though he'd heard of it many times, but he'd never been there himself.   
  
"Oi! Kudo! Can't you run faster? With this speed, we can never get there in time!"   
  
Conan halted his steps and looked up at Heiji, "What does that suppose to mean? How fast do you expect a seven year old to run?"  
  
"Sorry, I-I forgot about that." He snickered. "Never mind that, isn't there any other way we can get there faster?"  
  
"Well, I could use the solar powered skateboard, but this way you'll never catch up with me. And if you ride with me, I'm pretty sure my skateboard will collapse by overloaded weight in seconds!" Conan glanced at the skateboard under his arm.   
  
Heiji glared at the boy at his waist height. "Well, yeah, and you can't expect me to chase after a skateboard at the same speed as any car on the street. I'll be fortune enough not to have people pointing at me and think I'm insane or something." He sighed, holding up his exhausted arm to hold his head.   
  
Conan felt a little hard, round thing in his pocket. 'Hun? What's... ohhh...' He smiled slightly, "Keep on running will not do either. There's a parade today in Tokyo, and they should pass this street any minute now. However, I think I have a solution." A 'Kudo Shinichi trademark smirk' rose upon his face.  
  
"Ah?" Heiji blinked.  
  
Still smiling, he dashed into the nearest rest room. Leaving his Osaka friend in complete confusion of what he's doing, he slowly opened the bottle Ai had gave him the day before in school.   
  
Suddenly he paused. Recalling what Ai had said, "Use it wisely, don't waste it like last time." (I wonder if this is worth it...Ha, of course it is! What's more important than the whole Tokyo residence's life? But...if I use this all up...I won't be able to see her in my old form...)  
  
He stared intensely at the bottle in his hand, turning it around and around. He groaned as a headache arrived in his head. Trying his hardest to decide whether he should take the drug or not, if he does take it, Tokyo will be saved, but on the other hand, why would he use it on a case, instead of something he really want to spend it on, something else that he would actually want to use on without regret?  
  
Leaning against the wall, and looking into the mirror before him, his own reflection gazed back right at him. A boy with some sort of expression that even he couldn't tell if it belonged to an adult or child. Perhaps it was only a mixture of both, or was it because his mind was so blurry and he was seeing things?   
  
A soft but complex sigh sounded in the room. It came from no one but the little boy. He stared into the boy's deep sight in the mirror, reading his own mind for a moment. After a last look around the room, and at himself, he carefully opened the bottle, and swallowed the pill with one gulp. Then he sat down, and waited.  
  
Waiting was even worse than making the decision. Knowing that the pain would arrive any minute, and there's nothing at all he could do to stop it, his heartbeat increased as the time passed by. Anxious and nervous, he couldn't wait to see his former form again, couldn't wait to see himself in the mirror, as tall as he had wished to be. But at the same time, he did not want to experience the pain of forced growth for the second time. It was worse enough just thinking about the whole idea of eating some kind of not-yet-fully-developed-drug and stretch out your bones and flesh into an adult form in less than fifteen minutes.  
  
Outside on the open streets, Heiji stood where Conan had ran off. Checking his watch every other second, his walked in circles and murmured. "What the hell is that idiot doing? It's been half hour already!"   
  
Back in the well-hidden place, columns of steam rose up in the air, and disappeared above the ceiling. More and more columns formed a room filled with vapor, and in the middle lay a little boy, already unconscious due to the intense heat, and extreme pain in his bones.  
  
"Kudo! Oi! Kudo! Where are you? Oi!" Heiji finally managed to search around the place for Kudo. Unaware that he'd passed a room with steams coming out of the windows, he ran on.  
  
Gaining more and more conscious as the pain slowly passed, and steams scattered. Conan... no, Shinichi's eyes opened, two hands supporting his body up to his feet, and he looked into the mirror. Just as he expected, Shinichi Kudo, at the age of 17 appeared. Although his face was covered with sweat, that appearance was still recognizable to everyone.   
  
After a while of rest, he washed his briefly washed his face, and changed into his seventeen years old clothes, which he had packed inside his backpack's secret layer all the time. Just in case, if he needed it.   
  
"Kudo! Can you hear me? If so, come out! It's no time to play hide and seek! And we are a bit too old to play this game, don't you think? Kudo! Kudo!" still screaming all over the streets at the top of his voice, he stopped and took some breath.   
  
A voice on the left side of him replied, "What're you trying to do? Get all the people in Tokyo to search for me? It's nice to know that you care about my presence, though." He grinned.  
  
Heiji whirled his head towards the voice, his eyes widened at the image before his eyes. Still panting, he answered back in a rather irritated tone, "Watch your choice of words. What are you doing in that... that... body anyways?"  
  
"What are you talking about? This IS my body, at least it is supposed to..." Shinichi saw the look on Heiji's face, and immediately added, "Hey! I did risk my life to take the pill you know! So you better appreciate the fact that I used my only pill on this case, rather than on something I really want to waste it on. So come on! This form is not going   
to stay forever." Shinichi pulled Heiji on his sleeve, and dragged him forwards the streets again, unaware that his glasses in his pockets had fallen down to the ground.   
  
"E-x...cuse me! Please...let...me...through...ah!....Don't push...whoa!"   
  
After passing through the huge crowd of the parade and visitors from all over the country, Heiji and Shinichi were already out of breath. But considering the fact that you are in a rush, tiredness wasn't that important. Both of their face was covered with sweat, but there weren't anytime left to even thinks about taking a second of rest.   
  
  
  
--------- Mouri's Detective Agency ------------  
  
"Kazuha-chan, did Heiji-san tell you where the two of them are going?" Ran asked while drinking tea with her newest friend.  
  
The other teenage girl thought for a moment, that desperately shook her head, "No......Wait! Last night when we were making dinner, I think I overheard their conversation...if I recall, I think Heiji said something about going to Tropical Land today...Humph! That baka, he'd better not going somewhere to play without telling me!"  
  
Startled, Ran repeated, "T-tropical land?"  
  
Kazuha nodded, and said, "Yeah, I'm quite confident now."  
  
'Conan-kun...' An unusual feeling rose upon her body, "Come on, let's follow them and see what they are up to."  
  
She silently agreed, "Don't we have to tell Mouri-san first?"   
  
"Doesn't matter, he probably won't even notice that we are gone."  
  
Before long, Ran and Kazuha were already on their trail to Tropical Land. But soon, they will realize, that could be Kazuha's first, and their very last trip, to the best amusement park in Japan.   
  
  
--------- Somewhere in Tropical Land ------------  
  
"Master, everything's prepared. The two of them have arrived as well." The same man reported, and turned to leave right afterwards.  
  
The little girl, who stood before the foreign man, and she was still smiling, "Why don't you stay, Balkan, and make yourself comfortable while watching this interesting show. It'll be fun, I promise." She chuckled, reached into her pocket.  
  
  
--------- Somewhere else in Tropical Land ----------  
  
"Hey, I thought you said this was a popular amusement park. If so, then how come we are almost the only two here?" Heiji asked while looking around, rating the park from his point of view.  
  
Taking the lead in the front, the former form of Edogawa Conan looked back at his friend, "The parade...absorbed...most people's attention..."  
  
"Oh...Where are we going anyways? It feels like we've been running around here for hours already!" Heiji complained. Indeed, he was more than tired already, but there wasn't a second choice than keep on running.   
  
The teenage boy at Heiji's size stopped running, and leaned against the wall, litting the heat of his body pass away by the continuous cold wind, and sweat drops trailing down his face. "To be honest, I don't know either."  
  
"Y-you...What do you think you're doing!? First leading me around this park and exhausting me half to death, and now you tell me you don't know where we are going?" Heiji nearly screamed out.   
  
Kudo shook his head, "Sorry, but that's the truth."   
  
The Osaka detective groaned, 'No matter what good friends we are, Kudo, there are just times that I want to kill you so badly.'  
  
All of the sudden, a cellar phone rang, but it was Heiji's. He picked it up abruptly, "Moshi Moshi."  
  
"So you have arrived. I guess next time I'll have to make my puzzle harder for you to solve. But anyways, I'll give you another hint of where I am. Find me at the place where it raises the rainbow, the place where only human being can enter, and the place, where your fate lays. In addition, I just want to tell you that I am indeed very anxious for your arrival, don't be late, you still have two hours." And the connection was cut.  
  
"Well? what did she say?" Shinichi wiped away some sweats on his face. It doesn't take much skill from a detective to know who that call was from.  
  
"Kudo, do you know anywhere in this park that raises the rainbow, only human beings can enter?"  
  
"Yeah, the place where the rainbow rises is the fountain in the exact central of this park. As to the second part...I've never heard of such place." The Kudo-Shinichi-trademark-deep-in-thought-expression was already up on his face. 'Only human beings can enter...but Tropical Land is completely open, birds and insects should be able to go to anywhere where we can. Unless there's a secret hideout I haven't discovered.'  
  
"Where's the fountain?" Heiji asked.  
  
With a sigh, he took the lead once again without another word.   
  
The sky was already dimly lit, blood-red sun behind those high mountains were more beautiful than ever, but they knew, it wasn't time to stop and adore that scene.  
  
"Here...is the fountain." Kudo said at last, after another long run around the park.  
  
Heiji's eye brow were lifted up, "Fountain? I don't see any water."   
  
Regretting that he'd introduced the place to Heiji and now he had to explain, he replied, "It's timed. The water goes off every 2 hours."  
  
"And exactly what does this have to do with the rainbow?" Heiji asked, even more confused.  
  
Blushing slightly as he regretted even more about this conversation, but still carried on, "Ever since our childhood, I've been inviting Ran to this fountain to play. We were always in the middle of the fountain when it went off, indeed the water was beautiful and all, and when we raised our head to look at the climax of the fountain, a large, but faint rainbow was crossing the sky above our head. As matter of fact, rainbow exist upon the sky every two hours here."  
  
Heiji found him snickering as he asked, "Since childhood, eh? You sure know lots of things when you are little." He said in a teasing manner.  
  
Shinichi glared at him for a second, if there were any words to reply to the teasing, it wasn't in his mind at the time. All he could do was covering up his flush.   
  
"Oh, I see. When it happens, don't forget to inform me, I'd be more than glad to go." He laughed.  
  
"When what happens?"  
  
Heiji winced before replying, "Oh come on. The wedding of the great detective of eastern of Japan of course! So, where are you two going for the honey moon?" His eyes were half moon like, and the smile on his face grew larger as he spoke the whole sentence.  
  
Blushing even deeper, he answered, "Why you..." He walked towards the wincing teenage boy, eyes glowing with fire, but Heiji just kept on smiling and wincing. "Hey, calm down! Can't you take a little joke?" Heiji said in a half apologizing tone, who also stopped walking when his feet touched some little round thing, which he thought was the sprinkler of the fountain.   
  
"Sure I can, but not this time." His fist was already over Heiji's head, only ten more centimeters down, and there would be a nice, round, bun on top of his head, like what Conan usually gets. But at the point where his skin almost touched Heiji's hair, all of his actions halted abruptly.   
  
'Oh no...' His heart was beginning to heat up, intensely and rapid. His bones were beginning to feel as if they are going to melt like a snowman in the summer sun in any second. The pain was making him shiver and gritting his teeth. (Damnit, Ai, what did you give me? Isn't this supposed to last for 24 hours? It's not even 6 hours yet!)  
  
Heiji blinked at the sudden change on Shinichi's face, something's wrong, he knew. Something's really wrong. Even the ground below them, it was...sinking...  
  
Shinichi seized his own shirt by his heart, as if it can cease the pain he is experiencing. (What did you do to my pill, Ai? WHAT DID YOU DO?) He gulped, he was almost at the edge of holding his control of this pain.  
  
The Osaka teenage boy stood there, don't know what to do at all, he just stood there and stared at Shinichi, and the still sinking ground.   
  
The heat was still burning inside him, everything went blur for a moment, and then back to normal, his ears were buzzing slightly. He gasped as he leaned over a little to Heiji, astonished apparently.   
  
Finally, his legs were too weak to support his adult form body, but just before he can kneel down on the ground in pain, Heiji caught him. "Kudo! Kudo! Are you all right? Answer me! Tell me what's going on! Why do   
you feel so... hot? And why are we sinking?!"  
  
'D-did he just say we're sinking? I thought I was the only one feeling that way because the time was up for me.' ...Sinking?" He finally let out that word.   
  
Something cold went through his whole body, but there weren¡¯t' any ice, water, or anything near him. All of the sudden, the pain was gone, and so was the heat. (Was I just dreaming about that...that I was going to shrink back to Conan? No, it couldn't've been. Then, how come it doesn't hurt anymore?)  
  
No more than a few seconds later, an urge of energy pushed him up to his feet again. His action made Heiji wince once more. "Whoa! Oi, was that a prank or something? I thought you were going back to Conan's form."  
  
He replied almost emotionlessly, "I was, but now I am not." Even he didn't understand what he just said. Quickly, he looked at his hands, body and legs, and felt his head with both hands. He was still he, the one in seventeen years old form. Does that mean... Ai finally found the real antidote? No, wait, I remember last time...  
  
A flashback was brought back to his mind, the time at their school play, he'd fainted and thought he was going to shrink in front of everybody, and scare everybody's gut out, but at the end, he was still... Shinichi sighed. (So that was only temporary.)  
  
"Kudo! I hate to say this right now, but I think...we're...going...ddoooooowwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn!!!" Before he could finish, the ground below them almost dropped like the raindrop in the midway. Both of them fell to their hands as the floor slid sideways, but still going deep down.   
  
When they finally hit the bottom, it was dark, hard and cold. They shuffled moans were the only sound they can hear until a little girl's voice came. "Ow, Kudo, what kind of place is this? Please don't tell me its part of the amusement park, I don't want to ruin my dream amusement park in the first visit!"   
  
"I swear I have no idea about where we are..." The little girl, who stood right before them, then cut him off. She was smiling, an evil smile.   
  
"Hello there... Kudo-san, and of course, Hattori-san. I've been expecting you for quite a long time. Why don't you hurry up? The game already started." Her finger snapped, torches of fire lit the place at once, and it was just then, Shinichi and Heiji had realized where they really were...  
  
  
---To be continued...  
  
A/N: Next chapter will come out in about 5-8 weeks, it's already partly written, and shouldn't take as long as I did on this chapter. More exciting stuff ahead, as well. Keep in mind that the secret passage way under Tropical Land is not one of the stories included in Detective Conan comics or movies so far, so please don't ask me where I found the information about it. Shinichi isn¡¯t going to go back to Conan¡¯s form in a while, and none of them are going anywhere soon. As matter of fact, more people will come to this ¡°game¡± in the next chapter. There's nothing else for me to say, except for...R/R~! 


End file.
